Paper News

Paper Prices forecasted to Continue to Increase

2008-05-09T18:31:00.001-04:00

We at Paper.com forecast paper costs will continue advance throughout 2008. There are a few reasons for this, first, many producers have shuttered inefficient equipment and have simply taken capacity out of the market. Also, imported paper into the USA, because of the depressed dollar, has declined. It is true that overall consumption is also down, but not nearly at the same rate as the reduction of supply. Demand for paper has decreased approximately 2% a year while supply has been reduced 6%. Prices are also increasing because of the raising prices of raw material, that is, fiber, energy, labor, chemicals, and freight.
Paper prices could increase in 2008 by as much as 25% for coated papers and 20% for uncoated. This on top of increased postage for those who must mail printed promotions. A few thoughts to save on paper include purchasing paper from a website such as Paper.com – with over 40,000 different papers; purchase in bulk – the site often offers quantity discounts – if you do not see it, ask; adjust the size of your piece – uncommon sizes create waste; ask for value alternatives – a more reasonably priced paper may ‘do the trick’. Sites such as Paper.com have expert paper customer service, - call 888-Papergreat – they are available to assist you.

Paper.com advances Green Store

2008-05-09T18:26:00.001-04:00

Paper.com continues to be successful in marketing Environmentally Friendly papers. They offer thousands of products from all the major producers. The extensive line of papers allows for end users to choose 100 percent post consumer; FSC papers; papers made from Carbon neutral credits; items made from alternative power such as wind to generate electricity; Papers made with process chlorine free (PCF) and elemental chlorine free (ECF) pulps; and many that are green certified and contain the green seal. With over 40,000 papers, why go anywhere else, but Paper.com?

Top North American Producers

2008-05-09T18:25:00.001-04:00

AF&PI published the following regarding mill uncoated capacity and percent market share.
Mill Capacity (000) Market share
1 Domtar 4,600 35.2%
2 International Paper 3,200 24.4%
3 Boise 1,500 11.5%
4 Georgia Pacific 1,060 8.1%
5 Glatfelter 685 5.2%
6 Wausau Paper 380 2.9%
7 Blue Ridge 320 2.5%
8 Appleton 290 2.2%
9 Finch Pruyn 250 1.9%
10 Neenah 215 1.6%

Forecast for 2008 (000s)
Shipments 11,610
Capacity 12,065
Consumption 11,862

Uncoated Free Sheet Capacity Update

2008-05-09T18:23:00.000-04:00

Uncoated Freesheet is defined as papers for three primary product groups – business papers (copy paper) 43% of market, printing and converting (offset 24%, envelope11%, form bond8.5%, tablet 2%), and value added (text and cover 2.5%, carbonless 4.5%, technical 2.3%). USA demand has continued to decline from its peak of 15milion tons in 1999 to an estimated drop of 20% or 3million tons to 12million tons by end of 2008. Current drop is mainly due to electronic information replacing paper. As outlined in an earlier Paper.com new release, capacity has also declined. Nearly 2million tons were slated for curtailment or conversion in 2007 alone, this follows 435,000 tons in 2006.

Go Green: Save Money

2008-05-09T18:22:00.001-04:00

The environmental and marketing benefits of “going green” are obvious, but many publishers are starting to realize that going green can have benefits for their budgets too.
Kristine Kern, general manager of Mansueto Ventures, told Folio: that Inc. and Fast Company actually spent less money on paper last fall when they switched to a 100-percent recycled grade made by German paper company Leipa.
When Every Day with Rachael Ray switched to 85-percent recycled paper, the quality and hard costs of production stayed about the same but gave its image a “huge boon” among existing and prospective readers.
Groundwood papers use 2.2 tons less wood than the more expensive freesheet grades, according to Frank Locantore, director of the Magazine Paper Project for Co-Op America.
Bryant Wilson, national accounts manager at paper company Frank Parsons, says “readers will be much more forgiving if the quality is slightly off” if you switch to a lower-grade paper with FSC, SFI or PEFC certifications.
That theory can also apply to basis weights and trim sizes—when Dwell reduced its trim size, it saved about seven percent in paper usage as well as 950 trees per issue, a great statistic to share with readers.

Picking a Paper Alternative

2008-05-09T18:19:00.000-04:00

Cheaper paper doesn’t have to mean lower quality, an article by
Joanna Pettas of Folio Magazine
Paper prices have gone up around 20 percent, in some cases more, and additional hikes are likely on the way—30 percent by the end of the year, by some estimates. It’s more important now than ever to consider less expensive grades, but it’s not as simple as picking one off the shelf, since the most popular grades are largely on allocation. Also, compromising too much on quality is risky in a time when the economy is strained and competition is fierce. To mitigate cost, publishers need to take a critical look at their priorities and options and compromise accordingly.
First, Prioritize
Every paper decision comes with a trade-off, whether it’s in cost, quality or availability. Peter Wilson, vice president, paper procurement and supply chain at Quebecor World, suggests running the needs of each stakeholder—reader, advertiser, editorial, production and so on—through a forced ranking process and finding a compromise. “The compromises do not necessarily make them poor decisions,” he says, noting that the essence of a good paper decision is to “minimize cost, maintain or improve revenue, and profit from the difference.”
With quality, Dedra Smith, president of Printmark West, says, “The choice is to sacrifice the amount your readers and advertisers will tolerate.”
One b-to-b publisher says, “Paper quality is about the last thing we think about.” But for Biagio Lubrano, quality control manager at Conde Nast, opacity and brightness are key, which limits grade and basis weight options. To mitigate the lack of choices, Lubrano says the company uses stochastic printing, a method that employs frequency modulation screening instead of small screening to improve color trapping. Most of the company’s magazines are now on 38 lb. to 40 lb. coated Groundwood #5, with the New Yorker on 36 lb.
Assess Your Options
Continued mill closures and paper company consolidations have shortened an already tight list of paper options. NewPage recently discontinued five paper brands following its acquisition of Stora Enso North America. The most popular brands, from any company, are increasingly hard to get.
“If it’s lightweight and cheap, it’s probably on allotment,” says Bryant Wilson, national accounts manager at paper company Frank Parsons America.
Coated Groundwood papers #4 and #5, the common alternatives to more expensive coated freesheet, will see capacity closures of 14 percent for 2007 and 2008, according to forest products information provider RISI. Prices for these grades have gone up $9/cwt in the six months leading up to February and will go up another $3/cwt in April, according to Jeff Bruce, managing director of publishing papers at xpedx, a division of International Paper.
Down from these grades, selling at 10 to 12 percent less than coated Groundwood #5, according to Bruce, are Supercalendered grades—SCA, SCA+, and SCA++—which, luckily, are “much improved” and which “printers are better able to run” in recent years, Bruce says, making them a likely alternative for magazines like US Weekly, New York Times Magazine and Woman’s World, according to Austin MacDonald, account manager at paper merchant Lindenmeyr Central, who says they’ve risen in brightness and surface quality and are now available in lower basis weights.

But even SCA grades are strained, says Ernie Wohlfarth, director of magazine paper at Time Inc. Switching papers right now is tough, he says, because options are limited. It’s important to do research up front and make careful decisions because getting your old paper back is not easy afterwards.
Wohlfarth also suggests sticking to U.S.-manufactured paper and working with an established manufacturer who is not likely to disappear, taking your allotment with it.
What Next?
The fact that a paper may be on allocation is not a reason to ignore it completely. “Plan long term and get the ball rolling,” says Wilson of Frank Parsons. “If you’re on a #3 and you want to go to a #4, express that to someone—your printer, your distributor, the paper mill—so they can facilitate that in the future.”
Reducing trim size is another possibility. “We reduced our width by 5/8 inches—from nine inches to 8-3/8 inches—and thereby saved approximately seven percent on paper usage,” says Fran Fox, production director at Dwell, which launched a redesign in February. “We saved an additional one percent when we switched from an offshore 50.7# text stock to a domestic 50# stock.”
Hi-bulk papers, which maintain the feel of heavier grades at lower basis weights, are another option. But Wilson of Quebecor World is leery of these, saying they tend to reduce the final printed gloss and uniformity of ink. They’ve also been more difficult to source, he says.
Wilson also suggests doing a “thorough scrub of the total cost of ownership” through each possible channel—direct, broker/merchant, and printer.
While companies like Time Inc. and Conde Nast mostly source their own paper, smaller publishers usually rely on printers. For some, this model is disconcerting.
“We believe the printer marks up the price substantially,” says Robert Siel, production director at Sumner Communications. “So far, our strategy has been simply to pressure the printer to provide the best quality product for the lowest price.” His company is looking into buying its own paper but isn’t sure it can beat the printer’s rates.
Also, “If we buy the paper ourselves, someone—probably me—will have to invest a lot of time calculating, purchasing and scheduling the paper supply from the mills to the print facilities,” says Siel. “This means I may need another headcount.”

Printing, writing paper stocks have tumbled

2008-05-09T18:17:00.000-04:00

By Tom Stundza – Purchasing Magazine
North American mill inventories of printing and writing paper plunged to 1.8 million net tons at the end of March, a 19.3% drop compared with a year ago, the Pulp and Paper Products Council reports. Also, demand for these papers dropped 1.3% to 6.48 million tons. Also reflecting the weak demand is the fact that mills operated at 94% of capacity in March to make 2.04 million tons, down 6.5% compared with March 2007.
Uncoated free sheet, the basic office white paper stock, remains the weakest North American market for printing and writing papers. A review of the statistics shows that first-quarter demand of uncoated free sheet dropped by almost 4% to 2.88 million net tons, paced by a 10% drop in March shipments.

Paper Recycling Hits Record High

2008-05-05T12:42:00.001-04:00

In 2007, an all-time high of 56 percent of the paper consumed in America was recovered for recycling, achieving a significant industry goal five years ahead of schedule. The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) also set a new goal of 60 percent recovery by 2012.
"Industry is demonstrating a real commitment to environmental sustainability by continuing to set and achieve aggressive paper recovery goals," said AF&PA President and CEO Donna Harman. "Whether at home, school, or work, paper recovery is something we can all do to make a difference."
"While the upward trend in recovery rates is most encouraging, getting to 60 percent is an important challenge for all of us. Everyone has a role to play in our effort to sustain and grow the country's recycling programs and recover more paper," continued Patrick J. Moore, chairman and CEO, Smurfit-Stone Container Corporation. Smurfit-Stone is a longstanding AF&PA member and is one of the world's largest paper recyclers. The company collected more than 7 million tons of recyclable material in 2007.
The 54.3 million tons of paper recovered in 2007 add up to more than 360 pounds for every man, woman, and child in America. Each percentage point is the equivalent of approximately one million additional tons of recovered paper -- enough to fill more than 14,000 railroad cars.
Joining the announcement at the industry's 131st Annual Paper Week conference, Maria Vickers, Deputy Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Solid Waste applauded the paper industry's achievements in increasing paper recycling, noting that "in 2007, the US recycled over 25 million tons more paper than was recycled in 1990. This increase in paper recycling reduced emissions by more than 97 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, comparable to the annual emissions of nearly 18 million cars." She also noted that EPA and AF&PA continue to work together on projects to stimulate paper recycling across the country.
Matthew McKenna, president and CEO of national nonprofit Keep America Beautiful, a partner of AF&PA on projects to promote paper recycling in schools, praised the Association and its members for their efforts. "True environmental progress, like what we celebrate today, comes when industries work together with communities, organizations, and dedicated individuals to make things happen." Paper.com recently created a store on its website that exclusively markets thousands of environmentally friendly papers.
SOURCE: American Forest & Paper Association

SMART Papers Completes Acquisition Of Domtar's Premium FSC-Certified Writing, Text And Cover Brands

2008-05-05T12:38:00.003-04:00

We reported on the progress of Smart's acquisition, on April 29th, the purchase was completed-

Hamilton, OH - Premium North American papermaker SMART Papers recently announced that it has completed the acquisition of seven well-known Forest Stewardship Council-certified brands of premium writing, text and cover and cotton stationery brands from Montreal-based Domtar Corporation.
The brands acquired are Feltweave, Nekoosa Linen, Nekoosa 25% Cotton, Nekoosa Bond, Skytone, Solutions and Proterra.
SMART Papers sales, marketing, customer service representatives, manufacturing and warehousing will serve all Domtar premium uncoated customers from SMART Papers' centrally located U.S. headquarters and warehouse in Hamilton, Ohio.
"We believe our customers will strongly benefit from the addition of these well-respected brands to our family of environmentally preferable and recycled uncoated and coated products," said Tim Needham, Chairman of SMART Papers. "These brands perfectly complement our strategy as the market leader for premium environmentally sustainable, best-value, text, writing, cover and cotton writing brands."
"Our newest FSC-branded papers are a good match for our manufacturing technology, our mill capacity, and our North American distribution strategy," added Dan Maheu, President and COO of SMART Papers. "They build on our focus to provide entire FSC-certified product lines to our customers."
Maheu said that SMART Papers will provide first-tier support to all of its existing and new customers. Products will be distributed from the Hamilton manufacturing center and our distribution center in Southern California.
"We planned this acquisition carefully," said Maheu. "We have started manufacturing the brands and anticipate a smooth transition for our new customers."
He added that the acquisition "is a strong complement to our premium coated paper brands—the world standard in triple-cast-coated papers, Kromekote, and our popular Knightkote Matte brand."
Paper.com is the largest source for online papers and markets all the Smart grades including the new Domtar line.
SOURCE: SMART Papers

International Paper Mill Explosion

2008-05-05T12:10:00.002-04:00

An explosion occurred at International Paper Company's Vicksburg, MA containerboard mill. The explosion happened when the mill was restarting a recovery boiler. The mill produced 560,000 tons/year of linerboard and will be down for minimum of 2 weeks. This capacity represents 10% of IP's total production and 2% of USA linerboard supply. This product is used for making boxes.

Smart reintroduces Passport Grade

2008-04-28T17:27:00.002-04:00

Smart Papers has recently upgraded and added four new colors to its Passport line, which now boosts 30% post consumer recycled fiber. The full product line, now offered by Paper.com LLC include 14 colors in both smooth and felt finishes. The Paper.com web site markets the complete line, ready for immediate shipment.

North American Printing / Writing Statistics

2008-04-28T17:15:00.002-04:00

From PaperAge
Uncoated Free sheet
2007 shipments 11,665 million tons (down 4.4% 2006)
Imports 543 million tons
Demand 11,757 million tons (down 5.5% 2006)

Total Printing and Writing Papers
2007 shipments 27,379 million tons (down 0.8% 2006)
Imports 3,298 million tons
Demand 29,457 million tons (down 3.0% 2006)

North American Uncoated Market Capacity Shrinks

2008-04-28T17:15:00.001-04:00

Producers of Uncoated Wood Free papers have curtailed over 2million tons of capacity since January 2007. We look for additional shuttering of equipment and increased paper prices during 2008. Two price increase announcements have already occurred in first 4 months of 2008. We have noted a steady decrease in demand, and 2006 to 2007 illustrated this with a 5.5% decrease. While the uncoated capacity decreased to 13million tons, the entire Printing and Writing market also witnessed a decline to 32.5million tons (3% decrease). The reduction started in the late 1990s. Today, this reduction is greatly assisted by the substitution of electronic communication and continuous increase in postal rates. Those mills that must buy fiber (pulp) because they are not integrated were the most inefficient, and therefore the first to shut down. Many mills suffer with inability to increase pricing enough to cover the advancement of costs such as fiber, chemicals, energy, labor, and shipping.

Uncoated Freesheet Pricing

2008-04-28T17:14:00.001-04:00

Uncoated free sheet prices continued to rise in April, this after the $60/ton price hike initiatives announced for March are all in place.
Business Papers, (copy papers) prices rose $50/ton in March and
another $10/tons announced for April. Offset roll prices rose $30/ton in March and another $20 in April. At the same time, demand appears to be
easing.

Demand for Printing Papers

2008-04-28T17:13:00.001-04:00

While the North American market is witnessing decreased demand, emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China are enjoying increased demand. These countries have both a rising population as well as increased household incomes. As the North American manufactures’ consolidate and introduce the rationalization of assets these other countries are building new paper machines.
Worldwide, we see global demand increasing, at a decreasing rate; more color, less monochrome desk top printing; Offset printing will decrease and digital (variable) printing will increase; and, Direct mail will increase at a decreasing rate.
Our prediction is North America will look for more personalized, better quality printing. Color copiers and color laser printers as well as digital presses will become more popular.
Paper.com, a leading web based marketer of paper, has focused on high quality laser papers as well as digital papers to service this growth. The site firmly believes the future is in personalized marketing communications in color. They also offer most of the grades in an environmentally friendly version.

N.A. Printing/Writing Paper Inventories Decline

2008-04-28T17:12:00.001-04:00

Total North American printing and writing paper mill inventories plunged -19.3% to 2.0 million tons in March compared to 2.5 million tons in March 2007, the Pulp and Paper Products Council reported. Shipments and demand for total printing and writing papers were down -4.9% and -4.7% respectively. North American mills operated at 94% (shipments-to-capacity) compared to 92% in the year-ago period. Total production dropped 6.5% to 2.25 million tonnes.

Imported Lightweight Thermal Papers may see New Duty

2008-04-28T17:11:00.001-04:00

Recently, the US Department of Commerce announced its preliminary decision to apply a duty ranging from 5.7% to nearly 60% to certain Chinese and German producers. The study, introduced by Appleton Papers, outlines subsidies to producers of lightweight thermal papers. These are papers used for such items as gas and grocery store receipts, sometimes known as point of purchase sales receipts. Final determination will be announced later this summer.

Newsprint Pricing

2008-04-28T17:10:00.001-04:00

April prices for 30-lb ‘standard’ newsprint raised $20/ton to $660/tons, this after,
4 of 6 consecutive $20/ton price advances were all implemented. Implementation of the last 2
installments would take prices to $700/ton by June. Further price moves may be ahead.

Oji Starts US$1.95 Billion Paper Project in China

2008-04-23T18:31:00.001-04:00

Japan’s Oji Paper Group has begun construction on a $1.95 billon paper project in Nantong, east China’s Jiangsu Province, after five years of preparation. A joint venture company named Jiangsu Oji Paper Co Ltd was set up last year, with Oji accounting for 90% of the investment and the Nantong Corporation the remainder. The first phase of the project is scheduled for 2010 with a 400,000 tonne/yr woodfree paper machine. The startup of the mill’s second 400,000 tonne/yr fine paper machine was pushed back to 2015 from 2012.

Rising Raw Materials for Paper producers

2008-04-23T18:12:00.002-04:00

Rising raw material costs continue to reduce paper industry margins. Domtar issued a release today warning of $35-45MM in incremental raw material costs for the corporation. Energy, fiber, chemicals and transportation costs are all on the increase. The first quarter for 2008 increase comes on top of $21MM in additional raw material costs in forth quarter of 2007. Look for more paper price increases from manufactures, just to stay whole!! Domtar, International Paper, and Boise – the 3 big producers, are already preparing end users for an announcement. Companies, such as Paper.com - the largest web based marketer of paper, often are forced to pass these price increases along. The low margins in the paper industry just does not allow for the site to absorb the new price advancements.

Hardwood pulp prices creep higher

2008-04-23T18:11:00.002-04:00

By Tom Stundza – Purchasing Magazine
Several hardwood pulp producers had trouble getting paper mills to accept all of a $30/metric ton price increase this month, but will continue pushing buyers in May. The purchasingdata.com survey of buyers matches data in the Pulp and Paper Week newsletter that northern bleached hardwood kraft pulp cost an average $810/metric ton in April, up just $5 from March. AbitibiBowater, Alberta-Pacific and Marubeni Pulp & Paper North had sought $835.

COATED GROUNDWOOD MARKET UPDATE

2008-04-23T18:11:00.001-04:00

Prices have been announced to increase $60 - 75/ton in April on most coated publication grades.
The industry witnessed shipments rose over 10% so far this year illustrating strong conditions. However, current market demand illustrates more tonnage available because of high paper prices and a slower economy as well as announced reductions in some cataloguing budgets.

Newsprint Demand continues to decline at a brisk pace

2008-04-23T18:09:00.001-04:00

Consumption of paper at the U.S. dailies for the first two months of 2008 fell 11.6% . Part of the issue is that newspaper widths continue to drop, with 44" widths now becoming common. However, a bright spot is that the 7.2% decline in total U.S. consumption for the first two months is noticeably less than the double digit declines seen in the first half of 2007. Also, overseas exports showed strong growth in the first two months of 2008 – up 25.1%.

Domtar Selling Paper Line to SMART Papers

2008-04-23T18:08:00.001-04:00

Domtar Corp. is selling its text, cover and writing product line of papers to SMART Papers of Hamilton, OH, an independent manufacturer and marketer of premium cast-coated, matte-coated and uncoated printing papers. Closing is scheduled for April 21. Domtar grades designated by the agreement are Solutions, Feltweave, Nekoosa Linen, Nekoosa Bond, Nekoosa 25% Cotton, Proterra and Skytone. Paper.com will market all these new Smart Paper products.

PAPER OR PLASTIC?

2008-04-23T18:06:00.001-04:00

From New York Times Magazine April 20, 2008 by CLAY RISEN

It sounds like a big step forward in environmental awareness — Whole Foods, the eco-friendly grocery chain, will ban conventional plastic shopping bags in its 270 stores. San Francisco has banned them in some places; so have Uganda and Bangladesh. But paper bags, it turns out, are hardly an ideal replacement. To ensure sturdier bags, most producers use primarily new paper, which means cutting down more trees. Then chemicals are used in the production of the bags to give them strength. According to a study by Franklin Associates, a consulting firm, plastic bags require significantly less energy than paper over the course of their life cycle, from manufacturing to transportation. Indeed, because paper bags are seven times bulkier, on average, than plastic bags, it takes a lot more energy to transport paper bags to grocery stores. Bulk matters on the other end too: paper bags take up nine times as much room in landfills, and recycling plastic uses 91 percent less energy than recycling paper. Which isn’t to say that Whole Foods has it wrong about plastic bags. Most are made from a nonrenewable resource, petroleum, and contain their own mix of toxic chemicals. They may be more energy-efficient with recycling, but only about 1 to 3 percent of plastic bags are recycled, compared with about 10 to 15 percent of paper bags. And millions of the 100 billion bags Americans throw away each year end up as litter, clogging storm drains and choking sea animals. A third way may be the only good choice. As part of its ban on regular plastic bags, for instance, San Francisco is encouraging stores to switch to cornstarch-derived plastic bags, which break down in about a month and release no harmful chemicals. And many stores have started to encourage shoppers to bring reusable cloth bags, or to offer them for sale at a cheap price.
Paper.com recently introduced a Green Store on site that carries all the popular 'earth friendly' paper grades.